GORILLA KILLA
West Hartford Moves Major Monkey from Back with Win Over Marlborough

West Hartford, CT (AP)—Ninety days. Three months. Thirteen Sundays. It had been exactly that long since the West Hartford Cannons were able to call themselves winners. Way back on Sunday, May 7, the Cannons defeated the Newington Capitals 7-4 in the second game of the 2006 CNMSBL season. One weekend, one win and already-high expectations elevated to all-time levels. However, since then the team took the field six times—three holidays, two rainouts, a bye, an appearance in the West Hartford Memorial Day Parade and several parties were interspersed—and all six times West Hartford was swept by the opposing ball club. The Cannons had ceased to fire and what started as a capuchin on their back grew to resemble King Kong as the losing streak stretched on and the calendar turned again, and again, and again. Hard fought contests, heartbreak, blowouts and blown opportunities all played a part in the twelve-game slide that sent the Cannons (2-14) spiraling into the cellar of the CNMSBL A Division. Sunday, August 6 was about redemption. It was about respect. It was about rediscovering those winning ways, even if for a single game. And as the end of the regular-season quickly approaches, so too comes the reckoning: Cannons players, management and fans have known all along that the team from West Hartford will be a real threat when the playoffs begin later this month. This weekend’s win over third-place Marlborough (11-7) serves as a resounding clarion of the Cannons potential to persistently pose problems in post-season play with solid pitching and an increasingly potent offense. Confidence was never lacking in West Hartford but now the Cannons seem re-committed to challenging for the A Division Championship. CNMSBL, consider yourselves warned.

Back within the friendly confines of Cannon Yards, West Hartford had a familiar face on the mound in the form of Mike Calabrese, the 2005 Patenaude Pitching Award winner and the only Cannon arm to amass a victory this season (Calabrese had been unavailable to the team since the June 11 match-up with Marlborough for what Cannons management described simply as “unspecified personal reasons”). Cal, though far from dominant, was effective in his first outing in nearly two months, allowing a single run in the first, two in the second and three in the fifth as he began to show some signs of fatigue (he finished throwing 108 pitches in six-plus innings of work). The Cannons vastly improved offense provided some much-needed pop in Game One (the team average just 2.58 runs per game over the first twelve contests but put up an average of 5.5 per game against first place Glastonbury last weekend) scoring in bunches early and in the clutch late. Kevin McGann led things off in the home half of the first with a single, moved to second on Ed Poland’s walk—one of two the slugger had on the day and his team-leading sixth of the season—and scored on a Tom Luby single down the left field line that knotted the game at 1. Poland was forced at third on a Steve Markie fielder’s choice but West Hartford was able to push three two-out runs across on RBI singles from Calabrese and outfielder Chris Barsa (part of a four-hit Sunday for the 2005 Offensive Player of the Year)—A’s centerfielder Shannon Doherty tried to shoot Markie at the plate but overthrew catcher/manager Paul Sciano and a hustling Calabrese beat the throw to home for a 4-1 lead. Marlborough sent eight men to the plate and scored a pair of runs in the following frame but the Cannons bounced right back with two of their own on Andy Borst’s single to start the second, Poland’s second base on balls, a Luby RBI hit and a run-scoring single from Leo Dionicio that extended the lead to 6-3. Calabrese settled down and was able to escape further damage—despite allowing lead-off runners in six of seven innings—until the fifth when the A’s tied things on two walks and three singles to knot the game at 6. In several contests during the losing the streak the Cannons held leads, often late, and lost but Luby showed why he is referred to as “the Almighty” with a one-out solo shot to left that reclaimed the lead for Calabrese (2-2) and the Cannons. Markie had a base hit and Dionicio—substituted in as a two-out runner for the catcher—stole second and scored without a throw after Calabrese singled, attempted a delayed steal and slid back safely into first, just beating the tag of first baseman Bryant Kobylarz. Calabrese (6+ IP, 6 R, 6 ER, 9 H, 1 K, 6 BB, 2 HBP) walked the first two batters he faced in the seventh and manager Matt Celio called on the right-hander Poland to close things out (Poland had started three games and relieved in another during Calabrese’s absence). Poland (Save, 1 IP, 0 R, 0H, 0 K, 0 BB) induced a double play ball to Cal at second and got Anheuser Busch on a grounder to Luby at short to end the game and the twelve-game skid, securing the 8-6 Cannons win. Luby—3-4 in the first game—called it a “veal piccata-driven victory,” referring to the team’s annual Italian-Fest that had taken place on Friday evening into the early hours of Saturday morning. “It’s been a tough road but, playing for the third consecutive Sunday, you can really see some of the bats coming around,” Assistant Manager Mike Weber told Tina Cervasio between games as a drooling and lovelorn Mike McGann looked on. “Getting Cal back out onto the field definitely provided a spark. We’ve worked hard as a team to get to this point but it was encouraging to see how some of our favorite fans—Mrs. Luby, Cel’s Dad, the Mancer and the Cannons kids, just to name a few—have stuck by us through the difficult times. Cannon Nation is still behind us one-hundred percent and we expect to give them much more to cheer about over the next few weekends.”

Game Two found Mike Patenaude perched on the pitchers mound as the left-hander looked for his first victory of the 2006 campaign. Patenaude, who has pitched well enough to win on several occasions, ran into the same trouble—run support—that has plagued him for the better part of two seasons since the addition of Calabrese. After easily getting two consecutive outs in the first frame Patenaude loaded the bases on a pair of singles and a walk and pushed a runner across the plate with his second free pass of the inning. The Cannons came right back against A’s staff ace Pete Rozsa—lefty Keith Echevarria was scheduled to pitch the nightcap but was passed over when West Hartford took the opener—as Poland doubled and scored on an error by shortstop Buddy Bell that allowed a hustling Dionicio, playing centerfield for the first time in his Cannons career, to reach base safely (during the game the “Horny Heartthrob from Hispaniola” said of his outfield experience, “I don’t play out there just because I’m black. Management doesn’t understand that we’ve got Willie Mays in center,” to which Calabrese replied, “Yeah, Willie Mays Hayes” of Major League fame who is described on the official film website as a player “who runs fast enough to steal a lot of bases but can't hit very well.” Barsa added, “At least now we know we can hide Leo’s glove in the outfield instead of at third base.”). Patenaude (0-6) allowed another run in the second on a Busch single and a Steve Garvie RBI double that would prove to be the difference. The Cannons managed only two more hits—a Barsa double in the second and a Dionicio single in the seventh—against Rozsa, who five-hit West Hartford when he faced them back in June. Patenaude (7 IP, 4 R, 3 ER, 9 H, 3 K, 6 BB) gave up two insurance runs in the seventh on a hit and three walks and suffered another hard-luck loss after going 9-4 in the 2005 regular- and post-seasons. “Mike is giving us quality starts but we just haven’t scored enough runs for him,” said Manager Matt Celio in his post-game press conference. “It’s got to be frustrating for him as a pitcher and I know it’s tough for us as a team. Fourteen runs in six starts (2.33 runs per game) and only a single run in four of those performances puts MP in a position where he needs to be nearly perfect. In contrast, Cal has fifteen runs of support in his two wins. For today anyway we’ve got to look beyond individual accolades and be happy how we got a win in Game One. I’m pleased with the improvements we’ve made offensively over the past few weekends—especially since we’ve been short-handed at times—and our pitching has been there throughout but we still need to be more consistent and put up at least four or five runs per game come playoff time.” Celio then added angrily, “Rumor has it that we want to head back down to the B Division next season (this in reference to a conversation that Luby had with members of the Marlborough team in the Cannon Yards parking lot post-game). I can tell you all unequivocally that the Cannons will be in the CNMSBL A Division in 2007 and we look to have two titles under our belts by the end of next August. It’s on like Donkey Kong, b***h. Print that in your papers.”

The proverbial primate has been purged from the Cannons posterior. Perhaps the comments made about the Cannons anticipated drop in divisions will serve as a springboard to success for the team from West Hartford. Winning in August is a wonderful thing but it is winning in late August that is the team's primary objective and the Cannons cannot be satisfied with this one victory. It’s time for the Cannons to make monkeys out of the rest of the CNMSBL A Division and that starts this Sunday against sixth-place Hartford, a team decimated by injuries to its pitching rotation. If the Cannons continue to play baseball like they are capable of they could evolve into first-round favorites in the playoffs. And that would not only be evolutionary but revolutionary for post-season prognosticators. This Sunday’s games, rescheduled to Cannon Yards, start at 10:00 a.m. and standing room seats are still available at 1 800-CANNONS or whcannons.blogspot.com.

Cannons News and Notes: With their hits on Sunday Dionicio (2) and Poland (1) moved into a second-place tie on the 2006 regular-season hit list with 12 each (Jason Maule leads the team with 14); Dionicio is the only Cannon to play in all sixteen games this season (K. McGann has played in 15); Luby had the Cannons 100th hit of the season with his single in the second inning of Game One (his three hits give him 91 for his Cannons regular-season career)...his home run in Game One was the tenth of his career, good for first place on the Cannons all-time regular-season list (the shortstop also leads the team with 5 post-season homers); Barsa’s four hits raised his average from .154 to .258 and his two doubles moved him into sole possession of second place on the team with 3 (Maule: 4); Borst wore Weber’s cup when he replaced Markie at catcher in the fifth inning of Game Two but claimed, “He won’t mind…it’s not going right on my b***s;” Calabrese improved to 10-3 (9-3 regular-season, 1-0 post-season) as a pitcher for West Hartford; Mancer Mojo came into play in a big way as Original Cannon John Mancini attended his first game of the 2006 season, the Game One victory; the eight runs scored against Marlborough were a season-high for West Hartford; the Cannons batted .467 in the first game (14-30) but only .120 in the second game (3-25); the team’s season batting average, on-base and slugging percentages continued to climb (batting improved from .246 to .254, on-base from .301 to .306 and slugging from .319 to .332); the team continued its success on Sundays following Italian-Fests, having never dropped both ends of a double header after the annual gathering; Celio and M. McGann both barfed after a night of drinking with Poland and his pal Jim Beam on Saturday evening/Sunday morning (the younger McGann also met with 2005 Cannons Fan of the Year recipient and former flame Marybeth Smiley on Sunday evening...terms were not disclosed); Calabrese and Markie earned their playoff eligibility on Sunday all but setting the Cannons playoff roster in stone (Troy Barber can still become eligible by playing in both games against Hartford).